


close your eye

by helsinkibaby



Category: The Mentalist
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fictober 2019, Fluff, Het, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-27 20:49:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20954699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: “You’ve got to stop getting put into ambulances.”





	close your eye

**Author's Note:**

> For fictober day 5 “I just might kiss you”

Michelle opened her eyes - well, eye - when the door of the ambulance opened and she felt the dip of someone entering. Expecting that one of the friendly EMTs who was taking her to hospital had come back to check up on her, her heart sank as the dark spots cleared from her vision and she saw possibly the last person she’d want to see right now. 

Kimball Cho. 

Her mentor, her team mate, current boss, almost friend and sometime crush. 

Yes, she had a thing for complicated relationships. Maybe they’d have something for that in the hospital, it was certainly worth checking out. 

She tried to sit up straight without wincing. It did not go well. Cho held out a hand in the universal sign for “stay where you are” but his face stayed as impassive as ever. “So,” he said, voice flat, “this is what happens when I’m not in the field with you.” 

Michelle considered dropping the ice pack that was currently over her left eye, but then thought better of it. If the pain was anything to go by, she didn’t want anyone to see what was underneath. Especially not Cho. “Local PD said they’d swept the place,” she started and Cho’s jaw tightened visibly. She was so surprised to see it that she stopped talking. 

“Yeah.” His voice was still flat but attuned as she was to minute differences in his tone, she could hear the anger underneath. When he added, “They’re going to be hearing about that,” it took a second for her to realise that he wasn’t actually angry at her. 

“They got me from behind... a choke hold...” She remembered the sensation of being lifted off the ground, her airway tightening and this time when she stopped talking, it was because Cho was squatting down in front of her, warm fingers against her chin, tilting her head ever so gently to the side. She knew her throat was bruised - talking wasn’t exactly fun - but when a clear flash of anger crossed over his face, she figured out that it must look even worse than it felt. “Threw me on the ground, kicked me when I was down...” Whoever it was had got some good ones in before the cavalry had arrived, but the damage was already done. “They want to check me for concussion... and there’s definitely some broken ribs...” Which is what she was blaming her shortness of breath on. It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Cho was still in front of her, her hand still on her chin, his thumb tracing her cheek. 

“You’ve got to stop getting put into ambulances,” he said after a long moment, his gaze dropping from her face down to her right side, the exact spot where the scars lay of a stray bullet had so nearly cost her her life. 

She tried to smile but it was hard to do that past the sudden, painful lump in her throat. “I’ll get right on that.” She was about to add on “Boss”, to tease him like she so often did, but the word died in her throat. 

It didn’t feel like he was Her Boss Cho just then. 

“Good.” His lips twitched, his eyes brighter somehow, like he’d just made a decision he was happy with. “Otherwise, I might just have to kiss you better.” 

He was so matter of fact that it took Michelle a few seconds to realise what he’d actually said, and even then it was only because his eyes dropped to her lips. She found herself fighting a sudden smile. “Well, if you think it would help...”

Cho shrugged. “I figure it couldn’t hurt.” He leaned in a little closer. “Shall we try?” 

Michelle fought very hard to keep her eyes - well, her eye - open. “This is real?” Her hand on the lapel of his suit jacket certainly felt real. “It’s not just the medication?” 

“Only one way to find out.” Cho’s lips twitched again as they closed over hers, and Michelle closed her eye.


End file.
